Trump and NYT Say There’s a Russian Spy Base in Cuba. Turns Out, It’s a School.

This abandoned watchtower is one of the few structures left from the Lourdes spy base in Cuba. For two months, the allegation that Cuba was hosting a major Russian spy base was largely ignored by U.S. media outlets. We found no evidence of an active Russian intelligence base, much less the sort of extensive equipment described by the Times. The CSIS report made no mention of a Russian spy base beyond noting that Lourdes had operated during the Cold War. From Spy Base to Cuba’s Silicon ValleyCuban engineer Rafael Torralbas first stepped foot on the Russian base in April 2002.